Range Description

Cebus capucinus is the only capuchin monkey in Central America, ranging from Honduras in the north, through Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama and through the Chocó-Darién into Colombia (Hernández-Camacho and Cooper 1976; Rodríguez-Luna et al. 1996; Reid, 1997; Marineros and Gallegos 1998). Four subspecies are recognized here:

Cebus capucinus capucinus
In Colombia, the White-throated Capuchin occurs south from the Panamanian border along the Pacific Coast, west of the Andes (up to 1,800–2,000 m above sea level) into northwestern Ecuador. It is restricted to the west bank of the upper Río Cauca (between the Cordillera Occidental and Cordillera Central) and extends north across the Río Sinu into Cordoba, Sucre and Atlantico to the town of Barranquilla on the northern coast of Colombia (Hernández-Camacho and Cooper 1976; Defler 2004). In Central America, C. c. capucinus extends west as far the Panama Canal (Baldwin and Baldwin 1977; Hall 1981).

Cebus capucinus limitaneus
In Honduras, Marineros and Gallegos (1998) recorded this subspecies from throughout the north (Departments of Gracias a Dios, Colón, Atlantida, and Cortés) besides Santa Bárbara in the north-west, and Olancho and El Paraíso in the east. Hollister (1914) also listed a skin from British Honduras (Belize). There have been unauthenticated reports of capuchins in the Mayan Mountains of western Belize (the Chiquebul forest and in the region of the Trio and Bladen branches of the Monkey River) and in Sarstoon National Park on the southern border. Its occurrence in Belize has never been confirmed (McCarthy 1982; Dahl 1984, 1987; Hubrecht 1986). Silva-López et al. (1995; Silva-López 1998) also reported on the possible occurrence of C. c. limitaneus in Guatemala, in the Sierra del Espíritu Santo near the Guatemala-Honduras border. This also remains to be substantiated.

Cebus capucinus imitator
Hall (1981) places this subspecies in western Panama, west from the Canal, and in adjacent areas of Costa Rica. Populations also occur on the islands of Coiba and nearby Jicarón. Baldwin and Baldwin (1976, 1977) documented the occurrence of C. capucinus in a number of localities in the Province of Chiriquí, south-western Panama. Crockett et al. (1997) listed localities in Nicaragua, and Allen (1908, 1910) recorded specimens of Cebus capucinus (referred to as Cebus hypoleucus in Allen, 1908), from Ocotal (northern highlands, 4,500 ft), and localities on the east slope of the highlands, Savala (800 ft), Chontales (lowlands east of Lake Nicaragua, altitudes 500-1,500 ft), and the Río Tuma (500 ft) and Muy Muy (Matagalpa Province, 1,500-2,000 ft).

Cebus capucinus curtus
Gorgona Island, Colombia, possibly introduced in the 16th or 17th centuries.